The bill, which Sobel has been trying to pass for five years, would have extended rights of married couples in areas such as health benefits, hospital visitation and medical decisionmaking to nonmarried couples.

"This is an issue that affects hundreds of thousands of Floridians," said Nadine Smith of Tampa, executive director of the advocacy group Equality Florida.

"Those of us who are in committed relationships are treated as legal strangers at the moment the people who love us need us the most, when tragedy strikes," Smith told lawmakers.

Many of the speakers Tuesday provided emotional testimony about being denied visitation when a partner was dying, being unable to make decisions about a funeral or being denied access to a loved one in an emergency.

Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, said it disturbed her when one woman said she didn't feel like a human being. "There was a time when certain individuals were considered three-fifths of a human being," Thompson, who is African-American, said.

While most of the testimony focused on a lack of rights for same-sex couples, Sobel stressed the bill was not just about gay partnerships. "It's for all consenting adults," she said.

Rep. Joe Saunders, D-Orlando, recommended the bill as a way to attract and keep businesses.

"This is for me as much about jobs as anything," he said, noting he didn't want to have to tell companies some of their employees would be "legally invisible" when they crossed the state line.